Time for another edition of

“Do you have any info about when WEEI will get back online. Jason Wolfe continues to say they will, but won’t give any time frame. I love your site. Keep up the good work.”

Brian – I get this one alot. I wish I had an answer. One one hand, I have people telling me that the extremely high bandwidth traffic makes it cost prohibitive in that there isn’t much of a return on streaming to WEEI, and that we shouldn’t look for it to return anytime soon, especially since WEEI’s ratings have gone up from what they were a year ago…they just don’t feel the loss of streaming hurt the bottom line. That seems to be shortsighted thinking in cutting off the vast listenership outside of New England. Jason Wolfe on the other hand has always been consistent in his answer that they’re still seeking the right “business platform” to bring it back on, and don’t want to comment about it until they have a definite plan in place. Others who have contacted Wolfe have told me he’s said that Entercom has the decision with them and that his hands are tied. If you’d like to contact Entercom about this issue you can e-mail Amy Van Hook at [email protected] or the Public Relations depart for Entercom at [email protected]

From: Home Run Derby
Subject: Sox Box Office Mess

This morning on Dennis and Callahan Larry Lucchino announced that groups of 20 or more would be able to buy the new Green Monster tickets today. (He also mentioned that individual ticket would be available in about 10 days.)

He was wrong. The group tickets will not be available until sometime in February. As a result, the Red Sox Box Office, which would already be swamped answering questions about tickets going on sale this week, was in chaos today and the phone system was completely stifled. All because of Larry’s unknowing comments.

Homer- Poor Larry, he not only isn’t a “baseball guy” but he’s apparently behind in the business department as well. Thank God Eddie is on vacation this week. “Larry the Lobster” would be getting broiled.

From: Jason
Subject: Shaughnessy

I’d definitely pay to dunk him. Did you notice the shot at Todd Walker’s fielding? Of course he did lead MLB in fielding % and was 2nd in total chances. He’s also in the top 8 in those “range factor” and “zone rating” stat categories that I don’t really understand. Any way you look at it, the guy is an above average fielder. Maybe he should change his name to “Todd Gonzalez” and Dan would think he’s a better fielder.

Jason – Can the guy have his head in the sand of his own “curse” myth any deeper? Shaughnessy also today during a call in to the McDonough group said that “the Red Sox hired Bill James, who is just a fan, to help make front office decisions”. Right. I’ve got a 1000 page book on my desk here written by James which is 100 times more informative about the game of baseball than anything Shaughnessy has written. No “fans” that I know write 1000 page books. I’d love to see Shaughnessy and James debate baseball sometime. To steal a phrase, “This needs to happen”.

From: MacLaw2000
Subject: Dale does suck

(Quote from my site) Dale ended the call with the gentleman by hanging up on him and saying “bite me”.

Come on Bruce.. this guy needs to be addressed in a big bad way. I know you like him but how about some even handed treatment……. a feather in your cap for the Borges fans? He doesn’t even know what “bite me ” means.

Mac- What can I say….I do like Dale most of the time. But he’s got his detractors out there, for sure. Ones who say he gets unreasonable when defending the Bruins, and that he’s perhaps the most apt to hang up on you if you go against him on the air. (Even more so than Sarandis, but that’s a story for another day) People complain that he can’t take criticism. I don’t really watch the Bruins games…I follow them in the paper, so I can’t comment too much on his skills as a play-by-play guy. I happen to think he’s pretty good on WEEI. Perhaps if I can find a decent polling software I’ll make Dale the subject of the next poll…or if any of you out there want to comment on Dale, I’ll see if there’s enough to put up his own page.

From: Chris Matthews
Subject: Letting Felger off the hook again….

I just wanted to show you how you treat your favorite writer (Felger easily is yours) over your whipping boys (Borges,Shaughnessy, & Carfardo).

You make no snide comment when Felger mentions the following in his Tuesday article “And how good would defensive end Greg Spires have looked on the Pats this year?”

But in yesterday’s blog, your replied with this snide comment “No Dan…we weren’t thinking that” when Dan Shaughnessy asked with regard to Spires “why don’t we get players like that”

Well…….it looks like your boy Felger was thinking that! Why no snide comment for Felger’s column? You didn’t hesitate to spring forward with your venom toward another one of your Globe whipping boys.

Personally I would prefer no negative comments at all, but last week you made it clear that this is your web page and basically you’ll say whatever you want, so be it, but at least if you’re going to continue to spew venom, at least be fair and spew it all around instead of leaving Felger free and clear, when I’ve once again shown that he is deserving of this treatment that you seem to enjoy doing on your web site.

Chris- I’m sure Felger will be glad to know he’s my boy…In any event, I messed this one up. I did notice the line by Felger, and just didn’t bring it up. Then Cafardo brought up the same subject in his mailbag yesterday. I still don’t see what the big deal about Greg Spires is. I didn’t hear these guys moaning and groaning when he wasn’t re-signed here. Typical that when someone does well somewhere else it’s quick to brought up here and reminded to the fans. I didn’t like when Felger did it anymore than when Shaughnessy or Cafardo did it. I should’ve called him out the same way. In general, I think Felger is a more fair writer than those other guys. He’ll criticize anyone if they deserve it, Tom Brady included. But he doesn’t go out of his way to knock the team the way others do. I just think he does a good job covering the Pats. Now, if we’re talking listening to him talking Red Sox during a summer Big Show appearance, then forget it. I swing the other way on that pendulum. I think he loves to knock the Red Sox. Just for the record, my favorite Boston writer is a Globe guy…Bob Ryan.

From: Jonathan
Subject: Shank

“Hey Bruce,
I really enjoy the site, keep up the good work. I just had a quick comment about the whole CHB hating David Ortiz thing.

I think it’s pretty obvious what is going on here. “Scoop” picks a player the Sox may acquire, before they actually do, and to show how much insider info he has, says the guy is “a sack of [Shaughnessey]”. That way, if the Red Sox don’t make the playoffs he can trash Theo, siting his take on this transaction as evidence that he was on to them from the beginning.

Shank will point to Ortiz’ poor fielding or clubhouse demeanor or overly high OBP as a reason the Sox didn’t play well. I think he actually would have liked to use Giambi for this but the Sox got him too quickly, before CHB could run an article. Find and replace “Giambi” with “Ortiz” and “Phillies” with “Twins” and he has his column. Either way, if the Sox somehow stumble at any point this year look for a Shank column with negative references to Ortiz.

Shaughnessey is the Christina Aguilera of the Boston Media – talented, but plays dir[r]ty and not someone you want your kids to grow up to be. With really bad hair.”

Jon – Interesting theory as well as comparison. But don’t waste your time trying to tell any of this to Shaughnessy. He’ll just say “I’m sure you’re at the top of your profession” or “You’re welcome to apply for a job at the Globe” -those seem to be his two favorite responses to anyone who dares criticize him.

From: Kevin
Subject: First Base for the Sox

If I were covering the Sox for the AP, this is the story I would have submitted on the Ortiz signing:

Thursday, January 23, 2003

AP-The Red Sox announced the signing today of David Ortiz to a one-year contract. Although he was used primarily as a DH last year by the Twins, Ortiz will compete for the starting job at first base with Jeremy Giambi. Also in the mix at first are Shea Hillenbrand and Doug Mirabelli. Hillenbrand might be displaced at third by Bill Mueller, although Mueller could conceivably see some time at first as well, while Mirabelli might be used in a platoon at first against lefties. In addition, the Red Sox are still in the hunt for the services of Kevin Millar, awaiting a settlement with the Japanese club the Chunichi Dragons. Millar is slotted to be used at first. GM Theo Epstein also confirmed that Boston is still searching for another right-handed bat, preferably a 1B/DH type. “We’re looking at several options”, Epstein said. “David Justice, Andres Galarraga, and Jose Offerman are still on the market, and Ron Gant too. We could always convert Gant to first. Tim Raines, too. We’re also considering trades for Matt Stairs, Melvin Mora, or John Flaherty and then converting one of those guys to first. Or maybe lulling Jose Canseco out of retirement. We’ll see. The plan is to give Grady Little as many options as possible to fill the open positions in the lineup.”

Kevin – You should’ve sent it to the Globe. We might’ve seen it in the paper the next day.